The Antiquary (Volume 35) online

they are placed with the third article shown
a bust of the Empress, modelled by NoUe-
kens.

The "Inventory," after a recital of the
preamble to the Act, has a long preface by
Mr. Cox, followed by a detailed scheme of
the lottery, and a description of the fifty-six
objects exhibited and to be drawn for. The
descriptions are very elaborate, and it would
be impossible to reproduce them here. The
first two entries represent a horse and tent
the latter probably a howdah made of gold
and jewellery, with two vases of flowers.
The tent was lined with mirrors, and the
whole was supported on a gilt table, with
rhinoceroses, containing musical bells,
flower-pots and bouquets in pearls and
precious stones, a mechanical clock, and
other adornments. Among the articles are
several musical chimes with mechanical
movements ; richly caparisoned bulls ; goats
with housings of pearls ; gilded and jewelled
vases supported by silver turtles ; rhin-
oceroses standing on rocks of gold stone,
supporting onyx and gold cabinets ; elephants
and silver temples; ca^es of mechanical
singing-birds ; and other things of the kind,
all ablaze with silver and gold and precious

stones.

No. 39 is a palm-tree made of copper,
covered first with silver, " then with a
transparent verdure like the finest enamel,
through which the very veins and fibres of
the leaves may be seen," and decorated with
dates, insects, and flowers of jewel-work.
The next in the list is a temple of agate, with
triumphal chariots moving on a rich gallery,
supported by palm-trees. No. 46 is called
" I'he Chronoscope," and is described at
great length. The writer of the " Inventory "
adds : " In the year 1769 the fellow to this
stupendous piece was sent on board the
Triton Indiaman to Canton, and now adorns
the palace of the Emperor of China." In
this Chronoscope a great weight of gold and
near 100,000 stones, including diamonds,
rubies, emeralds and pearls, are stated to
have been used. No. 50 is a throne, 32 feet
in circumference, with six steps in circular
form, the whole "gilt like solid gold." Be-
neath and behind the throne a band of
mechanical music kettledrums, trumpets.

378

SOME OLD LONDON MUSEUMS AND COLLECTIONS.

etc performed "God save the King!"
Magnificent vases of jewelled flowers,
musical clocks, a pyramid of fountains,
15 feet high, more bulls and goats, a silver
swan as large as life, and the like, complete
the list.

The silver swan as large as life, which
could move its neck very gracefully in every
direction, has had a curious history. When
Cox's collection was dispersed, it passed
with some other articles into the possession
of a man named Weekes, who for some years
kept a show, called " Weekes' Mechanical
Museum," in either Tichborne or Coventry
Street, Leicester Square. The son of this
exhibitor, Charles Weekes, died so recently
as 1864, and at the sale of his effects, on
May 26 in that year, the remains of a number
of automaton figures and fragments of
various pieces of mechanism broken, rust-
corroded, and very dirty were knocked
down for small sums. The silver swan does
not appear to have been included in this
sale, but is said to have been lying for many
years in the cellars of the Bank of England,
until at last it was acquired by a gentleman,
who sent it to the Paris Exhibition of 1867.
When that exhibition closed it is further said
to have been bought for the amusement of
the late Prince Imperial, then a young child.
It would be difficult to verify these state-
ments, and the only thing now certain is
that the silver swan can be seen at the
present day in the middle of the picture
gallery at the Bowes Museum, which stands
on the outskirts of the town of Barnard
Castle, in Yorkshire.

In thus finding a permanent home, the
swan has been more fortunate than the rest
of its early companions in Spring Gardens,
few or none of which can now be traced.
Some, as was stated above, passed into the
possession of another exhibitor named
Weekes, and their remains were probably
among the rubbish cleared out at the sale in
1864. At least one article became the
property of a showman named William
Bullock, who travelled the country with a
museum of curiosities. In " A Companion
to Bullock's Museum, containing a Descrip-
tion of upwards of Three Hundred Curi-
osities," which was printed at Sheffield, 1799,
there is this entry : " A superb Piece of

Mechanism, originally a part of Cox's
Museum, composed of gold and Jewelry,
and containing a variety of curious move-
ments and figures. In the bottom is a
Cascade of Artificial Water with constant
motion. This piece was sold by Mr. Cox for
;;^5oo." Particulars as to the fate of the other
things shown in Spring Gardens are lacking.
During the two years in which Cox's
Museum was open to the public only a few
persons were admitted at a time, at a charge
of I OS. 6d. per head. There was some
grumbling at the charge. Hugh Kelly, the
playwright, wrote a poem of twenty-three
stanzas, entitled, "On hearing some Ob-
jections to the high Price of Admission to
see Mr. Cox's Museum," in which he re-
proved people for being willing to lavish
money on masquerades, opera-singers, and
so on, while

When Golconda's whole mines in one wonderful
blaze

At a British enchanter's command,
Start warm into life, as enraptured we gaze, '

And are birds, beasts, or men in his hand ;
We then shake our heads " Half-a-guinea's too
high."

And against it we gravely determine ;
Yet the very next minute our half-guineas fly

For one tweedle-dum-dee from the Sirmen.

Notwithstanding the high charge, the
show was a distinct success. There are
many allusions to it in the literature of the
time, in addition to those already mentioned.
In the New Foundling Hospital for Wit
(Vol. ii., p. 42, ed. 1784) there is "An
Epistle to Dr. Shebbeare," by Malcolm
Macgregor, a pseudonym for William Mason,
the friend of Gray, in which are these lines :

So when great Cox, at his mechanic call.
Bids orient pearls from golden dragons fall.
Each little dragonet, with brazen grin.
Gapes for the precious prize, and gulps it in.
Yet when we peep behind the magic scene,
One master-wheel directs the whole machine ;
The self-same pearls, in nice gradation, all,
Around one common centre, rise and fall.

Horace Walpole, in a letter to Mason dated
August 4, 1777, calls these verses "the
immortal lines on Cox's Museum."

In 1 774 a curious pamphlet was published,
entitled The Divine Predictions of Daniell
and St. John demonstrated in a Symbolical
Theological Dissertation on Cox's Museum.

SOME OLD LONDON MUSEUMS AND COLLECTIONS.

279

It had notes and other apparatus, and was
dedicated to the Bishop of Gloucester. The
authorship was anonymous. Passages from
the book of Daniel and the Revelation, and
descriptions of items in the museum were
printed in parallel columns. The intention
appears to have been satirical, but the satire
is obscure and of no interest whatever. The
pamphlet, however, testifies to the wide-
spread interest excited by Cox's show. In
1772 it was visited by the Rev. John
Newton, the friend of Cowper, and a man
by no means given to the seeing of sights.
In the seventh of the " Letters to a Noble-
man," in his Cardiphonia, he says : *' When
I was lately at Mr. Cox's museum, while I
was fixing my attention upon some curious
movements, imagining that I saw the whole
of the artist's design, the person who showed
it touched a little spring, and suddenly a
thousand new and unexpected motions took
place, and the whole piece seemed animated
from the top to the bottom." The good
man then proceeds, more suo, to moralize on
what he had seen. He again alludes to this
visit in the first of ' Five Letters to Miss
D " in the same work.

Miss Fanny Burney, in Evelina, which
was published in 1778, makes her heroine,
with Sir Clement Willoughby and Madame
Duval, pay a visit to Spring Gardens. As
they examine the wonderful pieces of
mechanism, a discussion arises as to their
utility, and the man in charge is interrogated
on the point. " Why, sir, as to that, sir,"
replies the somewhat puzzled attendant,
'* the ingenuity of the mechanism the
beauty of the workmanship the undoubt-
edly, sir, any person of taste may easily
discern the utility of such extraordinary
performances." "Why, then, sir," says Sir
Clement Willoughby, " your person of taste
must be either a coxcomb or a Frenchman,
though, for the matter of that, 'tis the same
thing." Then a mechanical pineapple
opened, a nest of mechanical birds began to
sing, and the argument dropped.

The principal mechanic at Cox's Museum,
whom Miss Burney may perhaps have in-
tended to indicate as the man in charge in
this dialogue, was Joseph Merlin, who opened
later a museum of his own, to which I hope
to refer in another paper.

C6e (ZBrploration of Caettoent-

HE excavation of Caerwent has long
been under consideration by anti-
quaries in the West of England,
and we are now glad to print a
circular just issued by some of the members
of the Clifton Antiquarian Club, who have
resolved upon this important work in con-
junction with s^eral energetic members of
the Monmouthshire and Caerleon Antiquarian
Association. The work will be of the most
interesting character, and we feel sure that
the necessary funds will be quickly supplied.
The estimated cost of the work is over
;2^5oo, towards which about ;^i25 has
already been subscribed locally. Donations
may be sent to the honorary treasurer or any
member of the committee.

"Caerwent Exploration Fund.

'The excavations which have been and are
still being carried out by the Society of
Antiquaries at Silchester, the site of the
Calleva Atrebatium of the Romans, have
drawn public attention to the importance of
systematically exploring and describing these
very interesting records of the former history
of our own land.

"At Silchester the aim has been not so
much to discover beautiful pavements, or
works of art, as to recover the plan and
arrangement of a Romano- British City, and
to throw light on the daily life and culture
of its inhabitants.

" As is well known, the efforts of the
Society of Antiquaries at Silchester have met
with marked success. A very large portion
of the ancient city has been examined, and
the streets and houses have been accurately
planned. Many very interesting remains of
the domestic life of the inhabitants have been
found, and the discovery of a Christian church
close to the Forum may almost be said to
mark an epoch in this branch of historical
research.

" That the work so ably begun at Silchester
should be carried on with equal energy and
care in other parts of the country is, it need
not be said, a matter of first-rate importance,
and steps have already been taken to excavate

a8o

THE EXPLORATION OF CAERWENT

and explore the Roman City at Wroxeter, in
Shropshire.

" Here in the West of England, where
Roman remains are so numerous, there are
many opportunities for continuing this work ;
and it is now proposed to excavate and
explore in a similar way some portion of
the Roman remains at Caerwent, in Mon-
mouthshire, the site of the ancient Venta
Silurum.

"The City of Venta Silurum is situate on the
Roman road between Isca Silurum (Caerleon)
and Chepstow, and was one of the stations
on the XIV iter in the Antonine Itinerary.
Like Caerleon, it doubtless dates its origin
from the time of the subjugation of the
Silures by Ostorius and Frontinus in the
years 50-75 a.d.

"The city itself is rectangular (about 500
X 400 yards in extent), and a large portion
of the ancient city wall is still standing.

" Relics of the Roman City are constantly
being found, including several fine pave-
ments ; but the only systematic exploration
that has been carried out was done by Mr.
Octavius Morgan, in 1855, when a house
and some baths were excavated in the south-
east quarter.

" A fine set of baths was discovered here,
and a pavement which, with other things, was
removed to Caerleon (see Archceologia, vol.
xxxvi.). With this exception the Roman
antiquities found in this interesting site have
perished, and no record has been preserved
until the year 1893, when Mr. Milverton
Drake, in conducting some building opera-
tions, found another house, and planned as
much of it as time would permit. An account
of this will be found in the Proceedings of the
Clifto7i Antiquarian Club, vol. iii., pp. 41-55.
'The houses and cottages of the more
modem village of Caerwent will prevent a
large part of the site being explored, but
there are still some fields unoccupied by
houses, and it is proposed to systematically
excavate these and carefully plan the streets
and houses, as has been done at Silchester.
If possible the cemeteries will also be ex-
plored.

' With this object a committee has been
formed, and it has been determined to appeal
to those interested in archaeology for help to
provide the necessary funds.

"The executors of the late Mr. Lysaght
have kindly given their permission to begin
this summer with a field of about nine acres
in the south-west quarter of the city ; and
Mr. and Mrs. Till, the tenants, have not only
most kindly given their consent, but are also
helping the undertaking in every way.

" In April last, the Local Secretary for
Gloucestershire brought the matter before
the Society of Antiquaries, and the Council
of that Society has made a contribution to
the fund."

[ We shall be glad to receive information from our readers
for insertion under this heading.^

PROCEEDINGS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL
SOCIETIES.

The eleventh Congress of ARCHiCOLOGiCAL
Societies, in union with the Society of Anti-
quaries, was held on Wednesday, July 12, at Bur-
lington House, under the presidency of the Right
Hon. Viscount Dillon, president of the Society of
Antiquaries. There was a large attendance of
delegates from the various national and local
societies.

Mr. Ralph Nevill, F.S. A., was re-elected as hon.
secretary, and thanks were returned for his past
services.

The Hon. Secretary reported that the committee
had provisionally arranged with Messrs. Constable
to at once publish Mr. Gomme's General Index of
Archaeological Papers from 1682-1891, the work to be
issued to subscribers in simple binding at the price
advertised, and the connection of the Congress with
it to be suitably acknowledged. Messrs. Constable
had also agreed to undertake the issue to the societies
subscribing for it of the Annual Index, at the same
price as hitherto paid. The Hon. Secretary pointed
out that the issue of the Annual Index, the col-
lection of subscriptions, and the storage of surplus
copies and subsequent sale of separate parts, in-
volved arduous clerical work, from which it was
most desirable that any hon. secretary should be
relieved. He also pointed out that the object of
the Congress, which was to bring about the publi-
cation of that valuable work, the General Index,
and the very useful Annual Index, were satis-
factorily attained by the proposed arrangement,
and congratulated the Congress on having with

ANTIQ UARIAN NE WS.

281

their very limited means achieved a work of such
importance.

On the motion of Chancellor Ferguson, F.S.A.,
seconded by Mr. Stajiley Leighton, M.F., F.S.A.,
the arrangement was approved, subject to an
instruction (moved by Sir Ernest Clarke, and
seconded by Mr. Phillimore) that due care should
be taken that the Index should be issued to the
Congress in a suitable form for their purpose, not
disfigured by advertisements.

On the proposal of the President, the best thanks
of the meeting were given to Mr. Gomme for his
liberality in giving the text for the General Index,
and congratulations were offered him on the realiza-
tion of his labour.

A long discussion then took place on the resolu-
tion proposed by Mr. Fry (hon. secretary of the
British Record Society) for the better preservation
of certain classes of records.

On the motion of Mr. Fry, seconded by Dr. Holt-
house, it was resolved that "the Congress of
Archaeological Societies in union with the Society
of Antiquaries, having regard to the revelations
relating to the custody and condition of wills,
parish registers, and other public documents in the
recent Shipway pedigree case, in which so many
documents were forged and stolen, considers that
steps should be taken to recommend Government
to appoint a Royal Commission to inquire into the
subject of the better preservation and arrangement
of such records, whereby such practices may be
rendered impossible in the future."

On reassembling after lunch, the Hon. Secretary
gave an account of the work taken in hand by the
newly-formed Lancashire, Shropshire, and York-
shire Parish Register Societies, and called attention
to the fact that not only was a complete and
detailed list of registers being published by private
effort in many dioceses, but the experience of
the societies named, and particularly of the Shrop-
shire Society, showed that the publication of all
the parish registers in the country was well within
the reach of private enterprise. The Yorkshire
Society now numbers 227 members, paying a
guinea a year, and has six registers in hand ; the
Lancashire is publishing five, and has more than
ten ready ; Shropshire, which by the aid of Mr.
Stanley Leighton, MP., has become a very strong
society, has already published twelve registers, and
has five more nearly ready.

In the unavoidable absence of Mr. Willis-Bund,
F.S.A., the Hon. Secretary gave some account of
the very complete way in which the Worcestershire
County Council Records were being treated under
Mr. Willis-Bund's care.

Mr. W. H. St. John Hope, M.A., mentioned the
subject of the proposed Catalogue of Effigies, as to
which active steps had been delayed owing to
shortness of funds.

Chancellor Ferguson placed on the table the
volume containing the illustrated list of effigies in
the diocese of Carlisle, published by the Cumber-
land and Westmoreland Society, and gave some
account of the method employed in the com-
pilation.

Ob behalf of the Wiltshire Society, the Rev.

VOL. XXXV.

E. H. Goddard, M.A., exhibited two completed
books of Portrait Catalogues, now the property of
their society. Regulation copies of these had been
deposited with the National Portrait Gallery. Cata-
logues of other collections were in progress.

The Rev. J. C. Cox, LL.D., F.S.A., gave an
account of the manner in which it was proposed
by Messrs. Constable to prepare and publish the
proposed series of Victoria County Histories pro-
jected by Mr. G. L. Gomme, F.S.A., and Mr.
Round bore testimony to the close scrutiny to
which he had subjected the proposal, and his satis-
faction with the result. After considerable dis-
cussion, it was resokved that " this Congress is glad
to hear of the project of a complete series of county
histories, termed the ' Victoria History of the
Counties of England,' and hopes that every assist-
ance will be rendered by the various Archaeological
Societies."

In connection with the subject, attention was
directed to the fact which the Committee had men-
tioned in their report, that no archaeological surveys
of counties had been recently published, and Mr.
Manning then drew attention to the Survey of
Oxfordshire made by him and hung upon the wall,
and it was stated that the Survey for Northants
was ready, and that for Derbyshire half done.

Mr. Gould drew attention to the importance of
obtaining a complete record of defensive earth-
works, many of which had never been recorded,
and were in constant danger of destruction.

Mr Gomme referred to the failure of the British
Association Committee to obtain help for the pro-
jected Ethnographic Survey of Britain, information
as to which was circulated by the Congress. He
asked that the societies should be invited to assist
the very interesting and desirable scheme by col-
lecting and, if possible, publishing photographs
(full and side face) of the typical inhabitants of
each county, and by having a sufficient number of
skull measurements taken by competent persons,
so as to work out the physical characteristics of the
people. Mention was made of the extremely valu-
able work done in this way for several counties by
Dr. Beddoes, and the Hon. Secretary wa directed
to call the attention of the societies in union to the
matter.

A hearty vote of thanks was then accorded to
the President for the courteous and patient manner
in which he had presided over a long meeting, to
the Society of Antiquaries for the use of their
rooms and their hospitality, and to the Hon. Secre-
tary for his labours.

^ ^ ^

The fifty-sixth annual Congress of the British
Arch^ological Association opened in splendid
weather on Monday, July 17. The inaugural
address was delivered by Mr. H. A. Hubbersty,
J. P., chairman of the local committee, in the
absence of the President, the Marquis of Granby.
In the course of it, Mr. Hubbersty gave a resume
of the succession of archaeological discoveries in
Derbyshire from the Stone Age downwards, refer-
ring especially to the remarkable finds made by
Mr. Micah Salt, of Buxton, in various caves of the

20

aSa

AMTJQUARJAN NEIVS.

district, of remains of the Stone, Bronze, and Iron
Ages. A full description of them was to be given
by Mr. J. Ward. FS. A, in the course of the week.

The real business of the meeting began on Tues-
day with visits to Bakewell and Haddon Hall.
Mr. I. C. Gould conducted the party to the summit
of the Castle Hill overlooking the town. This so-
called castle never was a "castle" in the strict
sense, but, as Mr. Gould pointed out, a good example
of an Anglo-Saxon earthwork. The central mound,
occupying the place of the Norman keep, and the
outer line of fortification of the " ballium," or
enclosed court, are distinctly visible, in spite of the
changes of nearly one thousand years. The Danes
had held Leicester, Stamford, Northampton, and
Derby ; of these " burhs " they retained possession
of Derby, and there is good presumptive evidence
that it was to defend the people of Bakewell and
to keep a firm hold on " Peakland," and prevent
any invasions or disturbances there, that Edward
the Elder constructed this earthwork, as is recorded
in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, under date a.d. 924.
The mound was enclosed by a wooden stockade or
palisade, and from certain indications there was, at
a later date, very probably a small stone tower in
the centre. From the mound a delightful view of
the country is obtained, with Bakewell lying in the
hollow, and the hills forming an amphitheatre
around it, every one of them having prehistoric
remains in the shape of barrows, for the most part
on their summits ; while a little distance ofif up the
valley a plateau cut out on the hillside seems to
speak of an ancient " mote-place," or gathering-
ground for the tribes.

From the castle the party proceeded to the
church, so ancient in its history, so modem as far
as the greater part of the actual building is con-
cerned, for it was "restored" in 1824, 1841, and
1852. In the course of these restorations, the whole
of the nave, aisles, tower, and spire were taken
down and rebuilt. After inspecting the exterior of
the building, the members and friends took their
places in the church, when the Vicar first gave an
account of the recent discovery of remains of the
foundations of two Norman flanking towers at the
west end, and of other works lately carried out.
Dr. Cox then delivered an address, in which he
gave a resume of the history and architecture of the
church.

In 1 1 10 the cruciform church, with narrow aisles
and Norman piers and arches, was commenced,
about the same time as the round Church of the
Holy Sepulchre at Northampton, which was built
between 1098 and 1108. It was erected on the
site of a previously existing Saxon church, which
was probably 100 years old at the date which Mr.
Gould assigned to the construction of the earth-
' work, A.D. 924. The two western towers beyond
the present west wall were evidently never finished,
for the steps have never been worn by the foot of
man. Thus, the present beautiful west doorway is
of later Norman work than the remaining piers and
arch, having been built when the towers were
abandoned and the wall pushed further east.